Ash trays



June 11, 1963 GENZABURO YAMADA 3,093,145

ASH TRAYS Filed Feb. 15, 1961 Fig.l

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I NV ENTOR GEN ZABU'RO YA MADA Y M+ ATTORNEYS 3,093,145 ASH TRAYS Genzaburo Yamada, 82 l-chorne, Taiseidori Higashinari-kn, Osaka City, Japan Filed Feb. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 88,689 Claims priority, application Japan Dec. 2, 19619 1 Claim. (Cl. 131-235) This invention relates to ash trays, and its object is to provide means to extinguish cigarettes easily.

With this object in view, the present invention provides an ash tray having a chamber therein provided with a plurality of needles to stick cigarette ends on and a vertically movable plate adapted to move up and down relative to these needles for removing the cigarette ends stuck thereon and causing them to fall into a space formed between the peripheral wall of the ash tray and the side wall of the chamber.

According to the present invention, a cigarette end, when stuck on a needle, has the burning tobacco put out, not only because it is crushed by the needle which compresses the contents of the end but because it is deprived of its heat by the coolness of the material of the needle, and further the cigarette ends thus stuck on the needles can be removed from the chamber by merely lifting up the movable plate. Thus, according to the present invention, disagreeable smoldering of the end can be pre vented and there is nothing troublesome in disposing of the extinguished cigarette ends.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claim taken together with the accompanying drawings in which is shown the preferred embodiment of an ash tray according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation view of an ash tray embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is the same view as FIG. 1, with the vertically movable plate lifted up, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

In these drawings reference numeral 11 indicates a main body consisting of a base 12 and a peripheral Wall 13 molded out of plastics. The central portion 14 of the base 12 is convex and on its circular margin is a side wall 15 lower than the peripheral wall 13, encircling a cigarette end chamber 16. The convex central portion 14 has a plurality of parallel needles 17 thereon perpendicular to said base and all of equal length and shorter than the side wall 15. The needles in the central part of the upwardly convex central portion 14 project above side wall 15. On top of convex central portion 14 is a vertically movable plate 18 having apertures therein through which the needles 17 pass so that the plate is movable up and down with respect to the needles 17. A handle 19 positioned above the top of needles 17 and extending all around them and is mounted on supporting rods 20 fixed to plate 18. The handle 19 is adapted to support the lit end of a cigarette in downwardly and inwardly inclined radial relation when the mouthpiece end of the cigarette is placed on the upper edge of the peripheral wall 13. On the inner surface of the side wall 15 are cut guide grooves 21 into which project projections 22 formed on the circumference of the vertically 3,fi93,145 Patented June 11, 1963 movable plate 18. The projections 22 and grooves 21 cooperate to retain the plate so the apertures therein will remain in alignment with the needles and the plate will be maintained in perpendicular relation therewith. Around the top of the side wall '15 there is fitted a flange 23 which acts as a stopper to prevent the vertically movable plate 18 from being lifted out of chamber 16. Between the peripheral wall 13 and the side Wall 15 is formed a space 2-4.

It will be seen that cigarettes or cigars can be extinguished by pressing the burning end down against the needles so that the needles penetrate the burning tobacco and the extinguished cigarette or cigar can be removed from the needles by lifting the handle to lift the plate along the needles.

It is thought that the invention and its material advantage will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the forms, construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the form hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An ash tray, comprising a base having an upwardly convex central portion, a peripheral wall around the outer periphery of said base, a side wall around the central portion of said base and defining a cigarette end chamber within said side wall, a plurality of needles on said base and projecting upwardly from said base at least to a point just below the upper edge of said side wall, the needles in the central part of said upwardly convex central portion projecting above said side Wall, a plate having the same outline as the cross section of said chamber and having a plurality of holes therein with a needle through each hole, said plate being slidable up and down on said needles, a handle on said plate projecting upwardly beyond the ends of said needles and above the level of the top of said side wall, said handle completely surrounding said needles and being adapted to support the lit end of a cigarette in downwardly and inwardly inclined radial relation when the mouthpiece end of the cigarette is placed on the upper edge of the peripheral wall of the ash tray, and a stop in the form of a flange around the top of said side wall against which the plate abuts to prevent it from being pulled off the needles, said side walls hav ing vertical grooves therein and said plate having projections thereon projecting into said grooves for retaining the plate so that the apertures therein will remain in alignment with the needles and the plate will be maintained in perpendicular relation therewith whereby a cigarette or cigar can be extinguished by pressing the burning end down against the needles so that the needles penetrate the burning tobacco and the extinguished cigarette or cigar can be removed from the needles by lifting the handle to lift the plate along the needles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,999,245 MacKenzie Apr. 30, 1935 2,667,878 Manning Feb. 2, 1954 

